Beyond Meat is a company that creates meat substitutes made from plants. It was started by Ethan Brown in 2009 and is based in Los Angeles, where it was born. The company’s reach now encompasses the entirety of the United States and some nations overseas. They provide goods meant to be substituted for actual meat, such as meatballs, ground beef, and pork sausage (Wunsch, 2021). Their mission may be broken down into four primary goals, the first of which is to enhance people’s health as well as the health of the environment. The second objective is to have a constructive effect on climate change. The third one is to address the limitations placed on global resource availability. And the final one is to increase the well-being of animals.
Beyond Meat is a part of the growing trend toward vegetarianism among young people and those between the ages of 20 and 35. Vegans of all ages will find something of interest in it. A “healthy vegan” or a “whole foods, plant-based” diet is commonly prescribed by doctors for health-conscious patients who are also instructed to eliminate animal products, refined/processed meals, and foods with added sugar, oil, and salt (Wunsch, 2021). The senior population, who are progressively being led by their doctors or other providers of health information, is what’s driving the most significant shift toward a whole-foods, plant-based diet.
Grand Strategies of Beyond Meat Company
Although Beyond Meat initially catered solely to vegans and vegetarians, the company has since expanded its target demographic to include flexitarians in addition to vegetarians and vegans (meat-eaters). As of late, there has been a rise in competition for available space in the food business, which may result in Beyond Meat’s expansion being slowed down (Ketabchi, 2019). However, as suggested by the company’s Chief Executive Officer, the business targets and concentrates on a bigger market that can support many vendors (Beyond Meat, 2019). The enterprise is active in more than 50 countries worldwide, including some in Europe, such as Germany, and others in other parts of the globe, such as Korea, South Africa, Taiwan, the United Arab Emirates, Israel, Mexico, and Canada.
Vertical and Horizontal Integration
If the company expands upstream and downstream, this is known as vertical integration; on the other hand, horizontal integration refers to the acquisition of companies that are part of the same value chain in a specific industry. Vertical integration Whereas Beyond Meat shows no indication of vertical integration, its brand, manufacturing, and technology are tightly interwoven. Higher-grade products that benefit companies that integrate vertically are typically more expensive than lower-quality items (Beyond Meat, 2019). Using proprietary technology, Beyond Meat has developed a weaved protein and product compositions. The company produces its protein in-house and then ships it to other companies for use. Packaging, flavoring, and mixing are all handled by the other manufacturers.
Diversification
Businesses in the food industry should expand and diversify their protein offerings to include new plant proteins in order to remain relevant in the market. This applies specifically to the inclusion of soy protein. According to the standards of the business, Beyond Meat has a diverse product offering. For instance, a varied Beyond Meat Burger, made from a plant-based protein, sells seven times more than the other burgers because of its placement on the counter compared to the different varieties of burgers (Verzegnassi, 2020). Beyond Meat has not only been approved for human consumption due to the diversity of its products but is also recognized as worldwide food company.
Market Development
Beyond Meat’s long-term goals include achieving top-line growth in its market and expanding the number of channels through which it distributes its products. The establishment of new customer relationships is the primary focus of the company’s efforts as it seeks to expand its retail distribution in the United States (Kopplin and Rausch, 2021). Additionally, a strategy is in place to take advantage of a significant opportunity to expand the market in the United States by concentrating sales efforts at existing distribution points. In addition, there has been an increase in demand for Beyond Meat products on a global scale. This has prompted the company to announce plans to open additional retail locations in international markets in addition to the 5,000 retail locations that are already operational.
Product Development
Beyond Meat’s success thus far has been attributed mainly to the company’s attempts to broaden its product line. The demand for plant-based meat products has increased significantly, so the company regularly develops and launches new items to the market. Additionally, Beyond Beef was released in March 2019 with a meaty texture and flavor (Beyondmeat, 2019). As of June 2019, the Beyond Burger was available in restaurants nationwide. The Beyond Beef product was launched in March 2019 and aimed to emulate ground beef’s versatility in taste and texture (Verzegnassi, 2020). Beyond Beef sold the Beyond Burger in Canadian retail outlets in May of this year. Beyond Burger and Beyond Beef were debuted in June 2019 to retailers across the United States.
Beyond Meat Company Publics
In the United States, Beyond Meat became a publicly traded company in May 2019, and it trades on the Nasdaq under the symbol BYND. When it went public, it became the first plant-based meat substitute company. The best public offering by a major U.S. corporation in nearly two decades: at $3.8 billion, the company was valued on the day of its IPO by investors (Aljazeera, 2019). According to the company’s most recent filings, beyond Meat’s market capitalization was $9.44 billion as of June 2021 (Beyondmeat, 2019). When COVID-19’s impact on foodservice sales was published in November 2020, Beyond Meat said sales had only climbed by 2% year-on-year instead of the 40% projected (Beyondmeat, 2019). During the COVID-19 epidemic, Beyond Meat shifted its focus to grocers, convenience stores, and other points of sale.
Beyond Meat operates multiple production facilities in the United States, including ones in the states of Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Columbia. Because Beyond Meat established its second production facility in Columbia, Missouri, in June of 2018, the amount of space, the firm has available for manufacturing products increased by a factor of three. In 2020, Beyond Meat completed purchasing a production plant in DeVault, Pennsylvania (White, 2021). Both of Beyond Meat’s facilities in Europe are located in the Netherlands: one is a co-manufacturing plant in Zoeterwoude that is owned and operated by Dutch business Zandbergen, while the other is a facility that Beyond Meat holds and uses in Enschede. These two facilities are responsible for providing service to the distribution network that spans Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
In Silicon Valley, unicorns are companies valued at $1 billion, and there has never before been a vegan unicorn like Beyond Meat. That’s quite an accomplishment for a company that’s been around for a little more than a decade and has a product that was previously considered exclusive to the vegan community (Smith, 2021). A-listers and celebrities including Bill Gates, Leonardo DiCaprio, Biz Stone, the co-founder of Twitter, and David Yeung, the founder and CEO of Green Monday in Hong Kong, were among the brand’s early investors.
Possible Communication/Campaign Goals of Beyond Meat Company
Sales and profitability are typically the primary goals of every business. The firm uses marketing communication and promotion tactics to raise public knowledge of the business and its products to reach the stated purpose. The beyond Meat Company’s communication or campaign goals are to make customers more aware of existing problems that can be solved by eating less meat and more plants (Kopplin and Rausch, 2021). They teach customers about the nutritional value of their products and try to get them to buy them. Beyond Meat’s ability to drive sales can be caused by utilizing several different marketing communication tactics, depending on the circumstances.
Customers’ attention is quickly captured by advertising, making it the most popular method of promoting products. The products of Beyond Meat have been promoted through numerous forms of advertising. “GoBeyond”, a campaign that featured National Basketball Association star Kyrie Irving, was the first step by the corporation (Grant, 2020). Beyond Meat used its first commercial ad to raise awareness of the company ahead of the company’s initial public offering (IPO). Despite its success, this advertisement was heavily criticized for giving the impression that it was about Nike rather than a food producer to those who missed the initial few seconds. In addition, the audience members thought Irving had only stated his plant-based diet at the end of the one-minute clip.
A sales promotion is strategy businesses use to increase their transactions throughout a specific period. The approach is a short-term strategy that, at its core, provides potential customers with an incentive to buy the products the company sells. Beyond Meat has supplied free food at restaurants such as Del Taco and Carl’s Jr., which serve the company’s products as part of a sales promotion strategy that has been implemented by Beyond Meat (Tyko, 2019). After the Initial Public Offering (IPO) was completed with great success, the company decided to collaborate with other eateries to provide free Beyond Meat menu options on Fridays.
Measurements of Goals
There are various ways in which the communication/campaign goals were measured. First, it was done by monitoring the target market’s level of expansion. It was evident from the beginning that Beyond Meat had a considerably more extensive vision for its company than any of its competitors. Although Beyond Meat’s products are plant-based, the company’s marketing does not. Even though its products are vegan, it does not label them so. Only 2.7% of packaged meat sales in the US are plant-based, so this makes sense (Noe and Musunuru, 2020). Instead, Beyond Meat fought to be included in supermarkets’ meat aisles. When grocery stores initially resisted this, Beyond Meat decided not to sell its product and instead waited for a grocery store to embrace its vision before selling its development there.
In addition, the level of tackling stereotypes about the customers was used to measure the goals. Masculinity and the use of animal products have long been linked. Many advertisements feature males grilling burgers or hanging out with their pals as they talk about their favorite protein, which is usually called meat (Mayrl, 2020). Plant-based diets are not yet related to increased strength and power, although meat consumption is. Despite these challenges, Beyond Meat convinced meat-eaters that its products met their standards. It achieved this, among other things, by making burgers that resemble real flesh burgers right down to the bloody patty.
Reference List
Aljazeera. (2019) Beyond Meat expects sales to more than double this year. Available at: Beyond Meat expects sales to more than double this year | Science and Technology | Al Jazeera
Beyondmeat. (2019) Beyond Meat, ® Reports First Quarter 2019 Financial Results. Available at: Beyond Meat® Reports First Quarter 2019 Financial Results | Beyond Meat, Inc.
Grant, N. B. (2020) Going Beyond the Beyond Meat Burger: A Political Economic and Comparative Semiotic Analysis of Online Advertisements. Doctoral dissertation. University of Calgary.
Ketabchi, N. (2019) Beyond meat company and competitors. Web.
Kopplin, C. S., and Rausch, T. M. (2021) Above and beyond meat: the role of consumers’ dietary behavior for the purchase of plant-based food substitutes. Review of Managerial Science, 1-30.
Mayrl, S. (2020) Equity research report: valuation of beyond meat (Doctoral dissertation). Web.
Noe, S., and Musunuru, N. (2020) The impact of the “Unchicken” announcement on the market valuations of Tyson Foods, Inc. and Beyond Meat, Inc.
Smith, T. L. (2021) The potential for plant-based Meat in Africa-a proposed new approach using a system design methodology (Doctoral dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
Tyko, K., (2019) Beyond Meat is offering free food at Carl’s Jr., Del Taco and other restaurants Friday. Web.
Verzegnassi, A., (2020) Beyond the meat: plant-based meat alternatives and their market, a focus on beyond meat (Doctoral dissertation).
White, S. K., (2021) Plant-based meat substitutes: understanding consumers’ motivators, barriers, knowledge and consumption practices.
Wunsch, N., (2021) Topic: Beyond Meat Inc. Web.